The Chinese government will roll out more measures to improve the tax refund policy for export of goods while shortening its process, in an effort to ease the burden on enterprises and secure the stable growth of foreign trade. It was decided at the State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on Oct 8.

It was also decided to promote shantytown renovation and improve living conditions for people struggling with housing difficulties.

According to the meeting, starting from Nov 1, the tax refund rate will be raised to 16 percent for goods that apply to the 15 percent and parts of goods that apply to the 13 percent. For goods that enjoy the 9 percent tax rebate, the rate will be increased to 10 percent or 13 percent, while the 5 percent rate will be lifted to 6 percent or 10 percent. Tax refund rates will remain unchanged for products that involve high energy consumption, heavy pollution, and are resource-dependent or in over-capacity.

The tax system will be further simplified, from seven grades to five.

To speed up the tax rebate, enterprises with good credit record will enjoy simplified procedures and short tax refund time, and paperless tax refund declaration will be fully implemented to improve efficiency of the review process.

Tax rebate service will be optimized by helping enterprises collect documents to declare the tax refund on time, and an online database with full coverage will be built.

Enterprises that provide integrated service for foreign trade will be encouraged to do the tax rebate for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Acts of fraudulent export tax rebates will not be tolerated.

By adopting these measures, the average time for tax refunds will be shortened from the current 13 working days to 10 by the end of this year.

Shantytown renovation

Shantytown renovation is an important project concerning people’s lives and the country’s development, according to the meeting.

In recent years, the Chinese government has helped more than 100 million people move out of shantytowns. And in the January-September period this year, work started on the reconstruction of 5.34 million housing units in shantytowns, surpassing 92 percent of the yearly target.

The next phase will be people-centered and more emphasis will be put on houses’ function for living, according to the meeting.

Local governments were urged to accelerate shantytown renovation according to the new three-year plan put forward in the Report on the Work of the Government 2018, and strengthen related infrastructure construction and quality supervision, to complete the annual target on schedule.

The meeting stressed that more importance should be put on renovation of shantytowns in old city districts, State-owned mining zones, forest zones and reclamation areas.

Also, the method of monetized resettlement in shantytown renovation should be adjusted and canceled in some cities and counties with heavy pressure of rising housing prices.

The meeting called for local governments to make a reasonable shantytown renovation plan for 2019 with a strict evaluation of fiscal budgets.

It stressed orderly issuance of local governments’ special bonds for shantytown renovation, and financial policies to support new shantytown renovation projects.

In addition, construction land for shantytown renovation should be reserved in the newly added construction land use plan, according to the meeting.